Is Your Home Too Cold?

Find out what these clients of HomeEnergyMD discovered during their home audits. You won’t believe how easy it was for them to get out of the cold—and get back to enjoying the inside.

By: Bill Yurgen
Date: 02/03/2010
A friend of mine who had moved here from the Washington D.C. area remarked to me, “You Northeast Ohioans are certainly a fickle crowd. You all complain about the winter weather, but when I ask ‘Why don’t you just move somewhere else?’ I get looked at like I’m crazy.”

That was a number of years ago and his observations still perplex me. But I believe I am beginning to understand. I live near Hinckley Park and on the coldest days you can go there and see people bundled up in their high-tech gear, walking their dogs, and seeming happy about the whole thing. But spend a little time talking and most Northeast Ohioans will tell you that it’s not the cold outside that they mind; it’s the cold inside that frosts their cookies.

Visit any area home and you will likely find a collection of comforters, blankets, door socks (those cute tubular devices we haul out in winter to block the cold air intruding from under our doors), and room heaters. One nice lady I spoke with recently told me that some areas of her home got so cold in the winter months that her son who lives out of town would bring his own heater with him when he came to visit.

That was until she had a home energy audit by HomeEnergyMD. J.S.J. lives in the Solon area in a beautiful, well-built, newer home that most people would assume is energy efficient. Here, she describes her experience:

“After living here for five years, we decided to do some remodeling. We were also fed up with constantly adjusting the thermostat. One room was too cold, another too warm, and we were never comfortable. We read about HomeEnergyMD in Mimi and thought we would have a home energy audit done before we pursued any remodeling projects.”

“Gary Canter, who was featured in the article, came to our home and used all kinds of really impressive devices to inspect our home, even that door air dam he was pictured with. I am a retired teacher and am inquisitive by nature. I asked a lot of questions and Gary just let me follow along behind him while he worked and answered everything I asked.”

“He found several problems. Some of the ductwork was not sealed properly so heated air (or cooled in the summer) leading to those rooms leaked out before it reached its destination. He also found insulation in the basement sills was put in backwards. And he explained why we had black lines along our carpet by the molding. It was because there is a gap behind the molding that was never properly insulated.”

“We had HomeEnergyMD come back to make the suggested repairs. There was no pressure and they suggested how to do it in steps over time. We elected to do it all at once. The crew was very professional and the moldings that were removed to insulate behind looked like they were never touched after they were reinstalled. Now the thermostat stays on one setting and our furnace is running a lot less—and we are using less natural gas and electricity.”

N.V., of Twinsburg, is another client who ended her family’s winter woes by using HomeEnergyMD. She had a similar account:

“Our home is around 16 years old. We wanted to reduce our energy bills and end our icy cold master bedroom problems. Gary of HomeEnergyMD came out and ran an audit. Surprisingly, most of our problems came from a lack of insulation around our window. We had thought we might hear that our windows needed to be replaced. It was a pleasant surprise how well the ‘treatment’ worked. The entire process was very smooth, and, most importantly, we got the results we were looking for.”

If your home is uncomfortable, or you wish to reduce your utility bills, you can have your home audited for $195 and receive 10% off improvements when you mention this story, now until Monday, March 1. To arrange an audit, call 1-888-940-4888. For more information, visit www.HomeEnergyMD.com.

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